News Archives: Issue 26

Summer 2012

From the Editor

Taking the Next Step

By Licia Canton

Last week my neighbours moved to a retirement home. They built the house next door 50 years ago, and raised their three children there. We had watched one another go about our daily lives for nearly twenty years. Read More...

Despatches

Now in its 19th year, Montreal's Italian Week 2012 kicks off on August 10th and runs through August 19th. Once again, the celebration will begin with a series of lead-up events. Read More...

Special Issue

Home, Belonging, and Identity

By Laura Sanchini, Guest Editor

My fascination with cultural identity stems from the fact that I grew up immersed in three separate cultures that were often at odds with each other. I was legally Canadian, culturally Italian, and linguistically a Quebecker. Read More...

Special Issue

Where Everybody Knows (How to Spell) Your Name

By Cristina Pietropaolo

Recently, an acquaintance told me that I don't look "Canadian." In all fairness, the person who said it to me was not Canadian, and I think it was meant as a compliment. Still, it made me reflect on my cultural identity (as opposed to my national identity), and it made me realize how fluid and dynamic it can be. Read More...

Special Issue

Being or Becoming? A Quest for Identity

By Giulia De Gasperi

?As I sit to write this piece, I am hit by a cosmic, albeit familiar, question: Who am I, really? My identity was never a major concern for me until recently. I've always been pretty certain of who I am. I'm Giulia, of course. Read More...

Special Issue

Forever Home

By Alexander Scalia

?I was standing outside the Palermo airport with my brother and sister, soaking in the scorching heat and the magnificent landscape. Sicily has such beauty; from where I was standing, I could have taken any number of pictures that would have been postcard-worthy. Read More...

Special Issue

I Left My Heart in Campania

By Elizabeth Cotignola

Sentimento is the Italian word for feeling. For me, nothing evokes greater sentiment than my country - not Canada, where I was born and raised, but Italy, my birthright. Stereotypes aside, my identity, as the child of Italian immigrants, has always been split in two. I am culturally and nationally ambiguous, as proud to be Italian as I am to be Canadian. Read More...

Special Issue

How Six Months in Turin Changed My Life

By Jacqueline De Stefano

?Italy! Land of delectable food, birthplace of the Renaissance, and home of great design - I believe it is one of the greatest places on Earth. Read More...

Special Issue

Italy for Beginners

By Michelle De Vincenzo

Can you imagine waking up every morning in a place where nearly every street has a coffee bar or gelato stand? Where you can sit on your balcony and watch the sun rise or set behind a majestic duomo in the distance? Where beauty and culture are at your fingertips? Read More...

Special Issue

My Italian-Canadian-American Life in Reverse

By Tania Zampini

The first I saw of Rome was no different than the last I saw of it three years ago. The persistent chaos at Fiumicino, then at Termini, was familiar and, more importantly, happy. There is no reason for me to feel so instantly at home there or, in truth, almost anywhere on the peninsula. Read More...

Writings

Silent in Its Shout: A Long Weekend in Sicilia by Susan Musgrave

By Susan Musgrave

My brother Robert, my bodyguard, insists on coming with me. He's seen The Godfather; a trip to Sicily is a lot more dangerous than our obligatory Saturday afternoon drive to Costco to buy Parmigiano-Reggiano, he says. Read More...

Profile

In Conversation with Novelist Edoardo Nesi

By Licia Canton and Roberto Ciuffini

Edoardo Nesi is the author of Storia della mia gente (The Story of My People), which was awarded Italy's prestigious Strega Prize for literature in 2011 and the Blue Metropolis Strega Prize for 2012. Read More...

Capturing an Italian Moment

Carnival in Venice

By Mark Bednarczyk

There were thousands of people in the Piazza San Marco, many of them decked out in costumes - some quite ordinary, others elaborate and extraordinary. By the Doge's Palace, I came across two individuals in simple, yet striking costumes. Read More...